Kaizer Chiefs’ Under-17s finished in tenth position at the Future Champions International Tournament, which was held this week at Pimville’s Nike Centre. Amakhosi lost their game for ninth position 1-0 to Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday.

A day earlier, on Friday, the Under-17s had beaten Mpumalanga Black Aces 1-0 for the play-off game for the positions nine to twelve.

Despite the relatively low position (tenth out of twelve clubs participating), Chiefs played well at stages, with several players impressing, including the likes of Wiseman Meyiwa, Sabelo Radebe, Nkosinathi Hlonwane, Nkosingiphile Ngcobo and Lebohang Lesako (see picture), who not only netted the winner against Sundowns, but also scored in the one-all draw to Orlando Pirates in the group stage.

Under-17s coach Arthur Zwane was visibly disappointed with the results, but he did stress that playing at international tournaments like the Future Champions taught the players a lot.

Zwane commented: “We faced top opposition this week and that’s the only way how you can improve as a team. Thanks to the lessons learnt at this tournament we will be able to take our game to another level.”